Shigeru Ban reinvents New York interiors

Shigeru Ban reinvents New York interiors

Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban has designed the interiors for an apartment block redevelopment underway in New York.

The Cast Iron House project will create 11 flats and two penthouse apartments inside a cast-iron clad building dating from 1882, in one of Manhattan’s most popular residential areas.

Ban has been commissioned to “reimagine” the interior of the building, which the developer Knightsbridge Properties describes as a “neoclassical landmark in Tribeca”.

“We liken the architectural concept for Cast Iron House to a ship in a bottle,” said Ban. “The original cast iron facade is the bottle, while the newly built-out modern interior, which has been completely reimagined, is the ship.”

Over 4,000 of the ornamental iron panels cladding the exterior of the building have already been removed, taken to a foundry in Alabama for restoration and recast where necessary to restore the original details, before being re-installed on the facade.

The penthouses will be housed in a new two-storey structure that is integrated into the existing building. This addition is designed to appear to hover when viewed from street level, with a cantilevered steel truss and extensive glass walls.